Idle after leaving MGM, he began the project eventually known as The Wedding March (1928) for independent producer Pat Powers and for Paramount release. As production schedules were grew seriously late and costs escalated, the film was shut down after shooting only the first half of the story. Hired by star Gloria Swanson and producer Joseph P. Kennedy, Stroheim wrote and directed Queen Kelly (1929), another film killed during production and never completed to anyone’s satisfaction.